GETTING IT RIGHT THIS AUGUST!!! The palmoil bottle fell to the floor. My kid sister scooped it up and promptly turned the cap before I could say “Wait!!” And there it was…sticky patches all over the kitchen floor. “A bit like life”, I thought, as I helped in cleaning it up. Impossible to put back in the bottle and a sticky mess outside of it. Do you ever feel like life is getting away on you? Kind of pouring out in all directions and impossible to put back in the bottle? This time of year we often operate under the illusion that desperation will get us on our feet. As ambitious people with nurturing hearts we tend to stretch ourselves until we feel like a worn out piece of elastic. As nurturers we aren’t much help to those around us if we are stretched to our limit and “low on oxygen”. You will probably recall the familiar “Wheel or Circle of Life” from some distant time management course somewhere. I like to take that tool out from time to time and allow it to help me shape my life. Here’s how and I’m on it again!…try it and the results may surprise you! Step one Think of your life as a wheel, a circle or a pie. Divide it into the four main quadrants that make up You! • Physical • Mental • Emotional • Spiritual Step two Break each of the four main categories into 3 parts: Physical • Health • Finances • Living Environment Mental • Fun & recreation • Life management skills • Career Emotional • Personal growth • Romance • Friends & family relationships Spiritual • Personal renewal time • Prayer time • Fellowship with others of your faith Step three Think of the center of the circle as zero and the outer rim as 10. Rank your level of satisfaction with each area of your life by drawing a curved line at the level that best describes how satisfied you are. For example: if you are relatively healthy but have no exercise in your life, you might draw your line at a “5″ or at the halfway mark in that area. Don’t get too detailed. Use the questions below as your guide: • Physical o Health – Are you as well and as active as you want to be? o Finances - Are you managing comfortably or do you lie awake nights worrying about money? o Living environment - Is your work and living place comfortable and relatively low stress? • Mental o Fun & recreation - Do you take time to laugh and play? o Life management skills - Are you satisfied with how you cope with life in general? o Career – Do you receive an acceptable amount of job satisfaction whether inside or outside the home? • Emotional o Personal growth – Are you happy with your character development? o Romance – Do you take time to enjoy your significant other? o Friends & family relationships – Do these relationships generally energize you or drain you? • Spiritual o Personal renewal time – Is there a place for faith in your life? o Prayer time – Do you take time each day to pray? o Fellowship with others of the faith – Is there some connection in your week with others of your faith? Step four Take a look at your wheel and see how balanced it looks. Note the areas you marked high and congratulate yourself. Note where the low spots are. Is there a significant deficiency in one quadrant of your life? Is there some deficiency in all quadrants? Step five Pick your lowest area and begin to incorporate one small change that will bring your level of satisfaction up in that area. Review monthly and keep adding value one small step at a time. If the task seems overwhelming ask God for wisdom and strength to focus on one small change at a time. If one area is completely overwhelming, ask God to guide you to a friend or a counselor who can help… Ask questions where you are in doubt, August is the time to do this!!!!
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:03:05 +0000
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